Thousands left in the dark during NYC power outage

Sunday, 14 July 2019NEW YORK (AP) — On the anniversary of a 1977 blackout that left most of New York City without power, a massive power outage on a hot Saturday night in Manhattan preemptively brought the curtain down on Broadway shows and packed streets with people wielding cellphones as flashlights amid a cacophony of sirens and horns from stalled traffic.

Underground, the scene was similarly in disarray as the blackout affecting 73,000 customers for more than three hours hit the subway system. Con Edison CEO John McAvoy said a problem at a substation caused the 6:47 p.m. power failure, which stretched 30 blocks from Times Square to 72nd Street and Broadway and spread to Rockefeller Center. Electricity was restored to customers and businesses in midtown Manhattan and the Upper West Side by around midnight, according to a statement from the utility.

McAvoy said the exact cause of the blackout would not be known until an investigation is completed.

The outage affected the entire subway system, closing four Manhattan stations to the public — Columbus Circle, Rockefeller Center, Hudson Yards and Fifth Avenue at 53rd Street. But Metropolitan Transportation Agency spokesman Maxwell Young said train operators were able to manually change the signals and bring at least one car into stations so passengers could disembark.

New York City's Emergency Management Department said the A, C, D, E, F, M, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 trains had resumed running in both directions by around 2 a.m. Sunday, following service disruptions from the blackout. Multiple street lanes between the Hudson River and Fifth Avenue had also reopened by 1:30 a.m.

The temperature was in the low 80s as the sun set just before 8:30 p.m., treating those who had streamed into the street to one of the city's famed "Manhattanhenge" sunsets. While hot, the temperature didn't...